Neuro & cognitive
Selank
A synthetic heptapeptide related to tuftsin, marketed online for anxiety despite no regulatory approval and almost no independent human evidence.
- How settled this rating is:
- very-low confidence in the current evidence rating
- Routes studied:
- Not established · Nasal (marketed but never approved)
- Also known as:
- Selank acetate, TP-7
- Last reviewed:
- 2026-08-23
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Evidence passport
Selank
A one-screen evidence identity for this compound. These fields describe research maturity, confidence and legal status. They are not a safety guarantee, efficacy percentage or recommendation.
- Evidence level
- L1Theory only
- Confidence
- Very low confidence in rating
- Regulatory status
- Research / unapproved supply
- Development status
- Unclear
Evidence strength
Higher = more and better-quality human evidence. It does not mean the effect is bigger or that the compound works for you.
Higher = more mature, better-documented human safety data. It does not mean the compound is safer than one with a lower number.
The 0-100 values rate the strength and maturity of evidence, not how effective or safe the compound is.
- Evidence base
- Mostly animal and laboratory research
- Furthest established stage
- Not established
- Human research maturity
- No established Western clinical programme
- Source curation
- Sources fully curated
Routes recorded
Most of this evidence comes from animals and cells
Overview
Higher = more and better-quality human evidence. It does not mean the effect is bigger or that the compound works for you.
Higher = more animal, tissue or cell research. Preclinical results are a starting point, not proof of a human benefit.
Higher = more mature, better-documented human safety data. It does not mean the compound is safer than one with a lower number.
How to read these scores
Every number here rates the evidence, not the compound. They are editorial 0-100 strength ratings, not percentages, and not a rating out of five stars.
- Human efficacy evidence strength — Higher = more and better-quality human evidence. It does not mean the effect is bigger or that the compound works for you.
- Preclinical evidence strength — Higher = more animal, tissue or cell research. Preclinical results are a starting point, not proof of a human benefit.
- Human safety evidence strength — Higher = more mature, better-documented human safety data. It does not mean the compound is safer than one with a lower number. A score of 80 does not mean “80% safe”.
- Evidence level (L0-L5) — the strongest type of study behind the compound, from anecdote (L0) to large replicated human trials (L5). It is a description of the study evidence, not a quality, safety or recommendation rating.
- Confidence — how likely we think it is that this rating changes as new research lands. Low confidence means the picture is unsettled, not that the compound is bad.
None of these ratings is medical advice, a safety guarantee, or a recommendation to use anything. How we grade evidence.
How far human research has progressed: No established Western clinical programme
Routes & formulations
Marketed / research routes — never approved
Reported research-market use is intranasal. That describes what is sold, not what is studied or approved — there is no approved formulation for any route.
Route availability is not evidence of efficacy, and evidence from one route does not transfer to another. The Registry never provides dosing or sourcing information.
Peptide lifecycle
Discovery
Preclinical
Phase I
Phase II
Phase III
Approved
No established development programme in FDA/EMA-regulated regions identified in the curated record.
What it is
A seven-amino-acid synthetic peptide derived from the immune peptide tuftsin, promoted online as an anxiolytic and nootropic.
What people claim
- Reduces anxiety without sedation
- Improves cognition and stress resilience
What the evidence actually says
The human evidence base is too thin and too concentrated to grade above mechanistic territory for the marketed claims. Popularity in research-chemical circles is not a data source.
Related evidence
Useful next reads based on this compound — not recommendations.
- Related compound
Semax evidence profile
A synthetic heptapeptide derived from an ACTH fragment, registered as nasal drops in Russia and heavily marketed elsewhere as a nootropic.
- Compare
Compare Selank vs Semax evidence
Same questions, same fields, side by side — including how much human evidence exists.
- Checked claim
Claim review: “Semax is FDA-approved as a nootropic nasal spray.”
A closely related claim we have graded, from Neuro & cognitive.
- Context
Research Desk
How to read animal, early-phase and controlled human studies without over-reading them.
Human evidence
- No adequately powered, independently replicated randomised controlled trials support the anxiolytic claims.
- The FDA notes it lacks important human safety information for compounded Selank.
Preclinical evidence
- Animal and cell studies of tuftsin-related immunomodulatory and behavioural effects.
Animal and cell findings are Level 1–2 evidence.
Mechanism and pathways
- Proposed modulation of GABAergic signalling and enkephalin metabolism.
- Structural relationship to the endogenous immune peptide tuftsin.
Safety and unknowns
- FDA material flags potential immunogenicity and impurity risks for compounded Selank.
- No systematic human safety dataset exists for the products actually sold.
Cancer relevance
This section covers questions raised by how the compound works in the body, plus anything regulators and trial teams keep an eye on. It is not a statement that this compound causes cancer — for most compounds here, no human data exist in either direction.
No established human signal
Regulatory status
Regulatory decisions apply to specific jurisdictions, products, formulations and indications. An approval elsewhere is not automatically an approval in your country.
Check the regulatory note and linked primary sources for jurisdiction-specific details.
Not approved by the FDA or other major Western regulators. FDA compounding safety material states that compounded Selank may pose immunogenicity and impurity risks and that the FDA lacks important human safety information for it.
Evidence grade
Mechanistic rationale or early development without qualifying compound-specific outcome evidence. A registered trial is not a result.
What would change our rating?
- Independently conducted, adequately powered controlled human trials.
- A published regulator-grade safety and immunogenicity assessment.
References and sources
Source transparency
A provenance snapshot of this profile. Counts show what kinds of sources are cited, not how much scientific weight each source deserves.
- Last editorial review
- 2026-08-23
- Recently reviewed · 54 days ago
- Linked curated sources
- 1
- Sources still pending
- 0
- External specialist reviews
- 0
- None recorded for this profile
Review provenance
Registry editorial review: Colin Jackson-White, creator and editor, who is not a doctor or clinician. External specialist review is credited only when a named reviewer has completed a review of this exact profile.
Literature-discovery and AI tools may help locate or challenge candidate evidence, but they are not counted as evidence sources here. Registry judgements are tied to the underlying papers, trial records, regulator documents and official study records.
- Regulatory / labelFDA — Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks
Source hierarchy: regulatory documents and trial registries first, peer-reviewed work next, sponsor material flagged as non-independent. We never use supplier or clinic marketing as evidence, and where a verified source has not yet been curated we say so rather than inventing one.
Evidence change history
These entries record changes to our assessment of the published evidence — not changes to the compound itself.
No recorded changes yet. Baseline position set on 2026-08-23.